Papermaking machine



OC- 17, 1957 R. G. Nu-TTING ETAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE 0d 17, 1967 R. G. NUTTING ETAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 17,

Oct. 17, 1967 R, G, NUTTlNG ETAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE 4Filed June 17, 1963 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Oct. 17, 1967 PAPERMAKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 17l 1963 Get. 17, 1967 R. G. NUTTING ETAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 17, 1963 ct. 17, 1967 R G. NUTT|NG ETAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed June 17', 1963 l 1 I I l l f.

Oct. 17, 1967 R. G, NUTTING ETAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed June 17, 1963 C- 17, 1967 R. G. NUTTING l-:TAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed June 17, 1963 Oct. 17, 1967 R.G.NUTT1NG ETAL 3,347,015

PAPERMAKING MACHINE Filed June 17, 1963 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 `United States Patent Office 3,347,0l55 Patented Get. 17, 1&6?

tion of Delaware Filed .lune 17, 1963, Ser. No. 288,291 2 Claims. (Cl. 53-182) This invention relates to improved apparatus for forming a wrapper about light weight articles such as toilet tissue rolls.

A primary object of the invention is to provide improved apparatus for completing the packaging of articles previously entubed in mutually spaced relation in a filmlike heat scalable material received by the apparatus as a unitary assembly.

Another object is to provide improved apparatus for the conversion to individual packages of a unitary assembly consisting of uniformly spaced paired articles such as tissue rolls entubed in a film-like wrapper material.

Another object is to provide improved apparatus for converting a unitary asembly of film entubed spaced cylindrical pairs of articles into individual article packages gusseted at opposite ends of the package to provide a neat V*tailored appearance.

Another object is to provide in a packaging mechanism improved apparatus for snugly drawing film-like material around opposite end portions of paired rolls while automatically compensating for variations in roll diameters,

A still further object is to provide an improved mechanism for wrapping and heat sealing opposite end portions of a film entubed about a pair of tissue rolls or the like.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon examination of drawings and description.

In the drawings, in which like parts are identified by the same reference numerals;

FIG. 1 illustrates in side elevation equipment incorporating the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged elevational view showing details of the infeed conveyors at the upper left of FIG. l.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a timing belt conveyor biasing roller also shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section along line 4 4, FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows in .plan a series of pressure bars and heat sealers as shown in elevation in FIG. l.

FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 illustrate diagramatically, and in detail, upper and lower gusset tuckers and an associated pressure bar mechanism.

FIG. 9 is a plan View of the apparatus of FIG. 7.

FIG. l is an enlarged plan view of the pressure bar mechanism of FIGS. and 7.

FIG. 11 shows in plan the pressure bars and heat sealers also shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 12 illustrates in horizontal section the heat Sealers of FIG. ll.

FIGS. 13, 14 and 15 illustrate in fragmentary plan view the pressure bar control mechanism shown in FIG. 8 in sequentially spaced positions during downstream movement.

FIG. 16 is a perspective view of an improved heat sealing element, shown in partial section in FIG. 17.

The apparatus of FIG. l illustrates tucking and sealing equipment particularly adapted for use in association with article wrapping equipment disclosed in co-pending application 288,290 filed June 17, 1963, now Patent No. 3,269,086. The apparatus is mounted on a suitable frame supported by posts 12 above a supporting surface 14, best shown in FIG. 1. An elongate assesmbly consists of paired articles -such a toilet tissue rolls 16 which have previously been entubed in sheet material, such as a thermoplastic lm and fed downstream as a unitary assembly on a suitable conveyor, not shown, and onto the feed-in conveyor section 18 shown at the upper left of FIG. l and illustrated in detail in FIG. 2.

Conveyor section 18 includes a lower conveyor belt 20 continuously driven in a downstream direction through a path defined by a drive pulley 22 and an idler pulley 24. An upper conveyor belt 26 is also driven downstream at a speed synchronized with that of belt 2t) between a drive pulley 28 and an idler pulley 30. Both belts 20, 26 are provided with timing notches 32, FIG. 3, in mesh with a sequence of toothed pulleys such as pulley 34, FIG. 3. For the purpose of biasing belt 26 snugly against the top surface of paired rolls 16 each pulley 34, FIG. 2, is mounted on a bracket 36 pivoted at 38 and biased downwardly by compression spring 40. Lower belt 20 meshes with a series of notched pulleys 42, each of which is mounted on a lixed axis 44 to insure a linear path of movement of belt 2t? during its movement downstream from idler pulley 24 to drive pulley 22. Paired rolls 16, as entubed within a film of heat scalable plastic material are drawn downstream in snug engagement between belts 20, 26 at a constant speed determined by the driven speed of pulleys 22, 28, as synchronously driven from a single source of power as by drive chain 46.

The function of the above described parallel conveyor mechanism is primarily to insure a uniform linear speed of articles passing therebetween while under suicient pressure to withstand upstream tension from associated entubing equipment. The conveyor drive may also be connected, in a known manner, with a .photo-electric or other detecting apparatus for initial synchronization of indicia bearing lm stock and the enclosed articles. The apparatus herein is particularly adapted for use with the entubing mechanism described in co-pending application Ser. No. 288,290 filed June 17, 1963, now Patent No. 3,269,086 covering that article positioning and entubing mechanism.

As the unitary assembly of entubed articles moves through the area of drive pulleys 22, 28, they are fed onto a pair of spaced conveyor belts 48, 50 forming a downstream extension of the conveyor unit, belts 48, 50 being synchronously driven by pulleys 22, through a downstream path extending to guide pulleys 52, 54. Belts 48, 50 may be of the meshing or timing type to insure article travel at a speed synchronized with the travel thereof through the conveyor portion defined by belts 20, 26.

As best shown in FIG. 7, the conveyor defined by belts 48, 50 terminates just short of upper and lower tucker units generically designated 56, 58, respectively. As vbest shown in FIG. 8, the downstream tucker units also terminate intermediate the paths of movement of a series of conveyor driven pressure bar and heat sealing units positioned to travel downstream on either side of the conveyor path, one pair of 'units being generically designated 60, 62, respectively. The pressure bar units are synchronized for reciprocal movement transversely of path of article travel, as shown in FIG. 5. Each pair of units 60, 62 is mounted by rollers 61 and a registered track 63 to move along a cam track 64 engaged by roller type Vfollower 66 for movement transversely of shaft 65 while being driven in a downstream direction by a chain conveyor 68 (FIG. l), which is driven at a somewhat slower linear speed than the belts 20, 26, 48 and 50 to provide slack in the sheet material in the spaces between the rolls. The pressure bar assemblies are thus cam actuated from a laterally extended open position at the far left of FIG. 5 to the closed position as cam guided along the narrow portion of the double cam track. Thereafter the pressure bar units are progressively returned to a fully retracted position as shown at the far right of FIG. 5.

As the entubed and paired rolls 16 move downstream after leaving the conveyor defined by belts 48, 50, the cam controlled action of the pressure bar and sealing units 66, 62 is` synchronized with the cam controlled action of upper and lower tucker rods 70, l72 associated with corresponding tucker 'units 56, 58, respectively.

After the entubed articles 16 are subjected to a gusseting operation by the simultaneous upward movement of rod 72 and downward movement of rod 70, as more fully explained below, they pass downstream to a pressure bar unit as rods 70, 72 are cam retracted. During passage through the pressure bar unit the articles, i.e., twin rolls 16 as shown, rest on support elements 71 during a downstream movement. Pressure and sealing control mechanism functions in a manner to bring each pair of transversely disposed jaws 92, 92a and 94, 94a, FIGS. 11, l2 first-to a position of substantial closure, followed by a spreading apart of the aligned jaws for the purpose of insuring snugness of the lm about the articles while compensating for variation in article diameter. Thereafter the paired jaws are cammed fully together into pressure engagement with the intermediate double layer of film. Resistive heating elements 95, 97, associated with each of the sealing bars are then rapidly heated by a current pulse to form an axially disposed seam adjacent each end of the resulting twin roll package followed by severance of the intervening film stock.

Referring in detail to the upper tucker bar mechanism 56 as shown in FIGS. l, 7, 8 and 9, a suitable framework 96 provides journaling support for a conveyor mechanism horizontally disposed in respect to the path of article travel and comprises seven identical stations 93 driven by a pair of conveyor chains 1G11 and 102 through a generally oblong path defined by a pair of chain sprockets 104, 166. Sprocket 196 is continuously rotated by a drive chain 198 from a speed reducing device `110 in synchronism with associated units. Each station 98, FIG. 7, comprises a bearing unit 112 slidably mounted on vertically positioned spaced rods 114, 116, unit 112 having fixed to depend therefrom an upper tucker `rod 70.A tension spring 118 biases unit 112, hence tucker rod 70 toward retraction thereof in an upward direction. A cam follower 120 on unit 112 extends inwardly of the assembly to ride along a cam track 122 configured to effect depression of tucker rod 70 as its associated unit 98 moves in a counter-clockwise direction around sprocket 104, FIG. 9, and into the path of article travel. The construction of conveyor unit 56 is not considered novel per se, hence a detailed description of the components clearly shown in the drawings will be omitted.

As shown in FIGS. 1l and 12 mating bars 92, 94 are provided with inserts 124, 126 respectively, of rubberlike material to provide a resilient backing for resistive heating elements 95, 97 carried respectively by bars 92a, 94a. Bars 92, 94 are therefore called pressure bars, and bars 92a, 94a are identified `as sealing barstEach transversely aligned setof bars are called jaws. Bars 94 and 94a are mounted to units 60 and 62 respectively by fixed arms 72 and 74. Bars 92, 92a are mounted on arms 76 t and 7S respectively, pivoted at 80 and S2 to fixed arms 71 and 74 to permit spreading of bars 92, 92a in respect to 94, 94a. Compression springs 84, 86 are disposed between the outer ends of each fixed and pivotally mounted arm to urge the inner arm portions and bars carried thereby into contiguous engagement as shown in FIG. 10. A cam mechanism, described below, causes pivotally mounted arms 76,78 to be urged apart during a certain period of downstream travel to insure snugness of the wrapper film while compensating for variations in article size. That mechanism is later described.

Lower tucker unit 58, FIG. 7, is cam actuated to cause rod 72 to operate in synchronism with upper rod 70. A channelled housing 128 supported vertically by a bracket 4 which depends from shafts 65, 67, serves as a guideway for a slide block 132 to which rod v72 is fixed.A compression spring 134 is disposed within housing 128 to bias rod 72 towards a retracted position below'the article path. As the rods thus retracted move downstream, a cam roller 136, carried by block 130 engages and rides upwardly on a fixed cam track 138 to lift rod 72 against the urge of spring 134 to the in FIG. 7. Rod 72 is provided at the free end thereof with a gusseting head 140 which may bea flat blade or the like aligned longitudinally of the machine direction. Fixed cam track 138 is contoured in registry with upper cam track 122 to synchronize the movement of rods 72 and 70 between a gusseting position, FIG. `7, and a position of withdrawal from the article path. Cam track l138, fragmentarily shown, extends suiciently in the machine direction to effect the above purpose, only one lower rod unit being shown in FIG. 7.

As blades 140 move into the path of article travel to gusset article bridging portions of the wrapper, a pair of pressure and sealing bar assemblies, 60, 62 are drawn together as cam follower 66 rides inwardly along converging portions 64a, FIG. 5, of cam tracks 64 with resultantv transverse as well as ver-tical gathering of the film portions. Track portions 64a converge sufficiently to draw each pair of bar assemblies into close proximity, but not completely into pressure sealing engagement with ythe film. Thus a small gap exists between pairs of jaws 92, 92a and 94, 94a during the movement of their associated assemblies through the first threepositions shown at the left in FIG. 5. During travel beyond the third station shown, cam tracks 64 again converge through track portions 64b, completely to engage the paired jaws for thermo sealing of the film by application of acurrent pulse at that` moment to'heating elements 95 and 97.

As the paired assemblies` move past the sixth station from the left shown in-FIGL 5, tracks 64 diverge as shown at 64e with resultant withdrawal of the paired jaws from the path of article travel.

The two bars carried by each assembly 60, 62, remain in contiguous relation while moving through the first two left-hand posi-tions, FIG. y5, but are cammed apart prior to arrival at the third positionto effect the above mentioned film snugness while compensating for variations in v roll diameter. Such roll variations are common in toilet tissue manufacture and the like. Spreading of the bars is effected as follows. Each double bar assembly, 60,` 62, FIG. S, carries a vertically disposed control shaft 142 having fixed to the upper end thereof a bar opening lug 144,`

best shown in FIGS. 8, 10, 13, 14 and l5. A radially extending lever 146 is fixed to the lower end of control shaft 142` and positioned for engagement with a rod 148.

mounted to bracket 130. Since the control mechanism herein described is common to units 60 and 62 onlyv one unit need be described. A pair of rods 148, slidably mounted transversely of the article path, are biased outwardly by an interposed compression spring 150. As units 60, 62 are drawn inwardly along the converging portionsy 64a of cam track 64,` arm 146 moves into engagement with the free end of rod 148 but no rotation thereof results, since a cam follower 152, FIG. 8, carried bya lever arm 153 also fixed to rod 142 then engages a cam track 154, FIG. 5, to prevent rotation of shaft 142, hence bar spreading lug 144. As follower 152 clears the downstream end of track 154, FIG. 5, shaft 142 is then free to rotate with resultant spreading of pivotally mounted arm 76 against the urge of spring 84 by compression spring 150. The extent to which arm `76 is spread depends' on the size of the articles being wrapped, the articles being somewhat compressed as the film is drawn snugly thereabout, such engagement being effective by compression spring 150 against the counter urge of spring 84. Rotation of rod 142 results in pivoting of lug 144 in a direction to spread arm 76, hence bar 92 in respect to bar 94.

fully elevated position shownv What is claimed is:

1. In a device of the character described, means for conveying in a downstream direction at a uniform speed an assembly of film entubed spaced articles of generally cylindrical configuration with the axes thereof disposed in a certain plane along the path of travel, means downstream of said first mentioned means for continuing the conveyance of said assembly at uniform but reduced speed to provide slack in the article bridging portions of the entubing film, means driven through a path from the downstream end of said first means synchronized with the speed of said second mentioned conveying7 means and operable in said plane to form gussets in article bridging portions of said film as slackened by said reduced speed means, means operable in a plane at right angles to said first named plane for concurrently drawing the gusseted article bridging film portions toward the medial plane of the path of article travel and snugly about portions of the article to complete film enclosure thereof, said film drawing means comprising a pair of pressure elements disposed transversely of and on one side of the path of article travel and a pair of sealing elements disposed transversely of said path and in registry with said pressure elements on the opposite side of said path, cam means for the movement of said paired elements from positions laterally of said path to positions of substantial abutment within said path, and means synchronized with said cam means for spreading said paired elements longitudinally of said path to insure snugness of said film as gusseted and drawn about said articles.

2. In a device of the character described, means for conveying in a downstream direction at a uniform speed an assembly of film entubed spaced articles of generally cylindrical configuration with the axes thereof disposed in a certain plane along the path of travel, means downstream of said first mentioned means for continuing the conveyance of said assembly at uniform but reduced speed to provide slack in the article bridging portions of the entubing film, means driven through a path from the downstream end of said first means synchronized with the speed of said second mentioned conveying means and operable in said plane to form gussets in article bridging portions of said film as slackened by said reduced speed means, means operable in a plane at right angles to said first named plane for concurrently drawing the gusseted article bridging film portions toward the medial plane of the path of article travel and snugly about portions of the article to complete film enclosure thereof, means for biasing said pressure and sealing elements, respectively, toward a spaced apart position, cam operable means for constraining each set of said elements against the urge of said biasing means and in substantially contiguous relation during movement from positions laterally of said path into substantially abutting relations at the medial plane thereof, and means for the release thereafter of said constraining means to permit said biasing means to spread each set of said elements.

References Cited ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner. N. ABRAMS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A DEVICE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, MEANS FOR CONVEYING IN A DOWNSTREAM DIRECTION AT A UNIFORM SPEED AN ASSAMBLY OF FILM ENTUBED SPACED ARTICLES OF GENERALLY CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION WITH THE AXES THEREOF DISPOSED IN A CERTAIN PLANE ALONG THE PATH OF TRAVEL, MEANS DOWNSTREAM OF SAID FIRST MENTIONED MEANS FOR CONTINUING THE CONVEYANCE OF SAID ASSEMBLY AT UNIFORM BUT REDUCED SPEED TO POROVIDE SLACK IN THE ARTICLE BRIDGING PORTIONS OF THE ENTUBING FILM, MEANS DRIVEN THROUGH A PATH FROM THE DOWNSTREAM END OF SAID FIRST MEANS SYNCHRONIZED WITH THE SPEED OF SAID SECOND MENTIONED CONVEYING MEANS AND OPERABLE IN SAID PLANE TO FORM GUSSETS IN ARTICLE BRIDGING PORTIONS OF SAID FILM AS SLACKENED BY SAID REDUCED SPEED MEANS, MEANS OPERABLE IN A PLANE AT RIGHT ANGLES TO SAID FIRST NAMED PLANE FOR CONCURRENTLY DRAWING THE GUSSETED ARTICLE BRIDGING FILM PORTIONS TOWARD THE MEDICAL PLANE OF 